Por favor, don't put that camera in my face.
*next*
Posted on 05/19/2008 9:10:04 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Ciudad Juarez's security chief out, military officer in as bloody weekend claims more lives
MEXICO CITY — The public security director of Ciudad Juarez resigned Sunday as gangland-style killings escalated across Mexico.
Guillermo Prieto tendered his resignation just eight days after the city's police chief was cut down by a volley of 60 bullets in front of his home.
"Faced with the situation that we have here it's been decided to change strategies — to something stronger," police spokesman Jaime Torres said in explaining Prieto's resignation.
Prieto is being replaced by a military officer on temporary leave, Torres confirmed. Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, is a major gateway for cocaine, marijuana and other narcotics being smuggled to U.S. consumers.
More than 2,500 army troops and uniformed federal police have been sent to Juarez and the rest of Chihuahua state in an effort to quell the violence. They have had little success.
Gunbattles rage Sunday
At least six people were killed early Sunday when a group of heavily armed gangsters attacked the town of Villa Ahumada, a village 90 miles south of Ciudad Juarez. Three police officers, and at least three suspected gunmen, died in a series of running gunbattles that began shortly after midnight and lasted about three hours. At least seven people were reported kidnapped by the attackers and their fate is unknown, local newspapers reported.
The attack on Villa Ahumada followed the capture last week of Pedro Sanchez — also called El Tigre, or the Tiger — a top lieutenant in the so-called Juarez Cartel, one of Mexico's largest drug smuggling organizations. Sanchez was captured after a shootout with the army in the city of Parral, near Villa Ahumada.
Army troops only recently ended their occupation of Villa Ahumada, which they had held since early March following the death in yet another shootout of the man reputed to be the area's drug kingpin.
Among at least eight men killed mob-style in Ciudad Juarez over the weekend was the local head of the federal government's consumer protection agency. The official was seized on a street Saturday, his body later found along with those of two other men in a car trunk.
Listed as 'executable'
The Juarez police chief killed on May 10, Juan Antonio Roman, was the seventh police commander killed in the city in the past year. Roman's name had led a list of local officials deemed "executable" by local gangsters that was publicly posted in Juarez in January.
Meanwhile, the Mexican government continued its offensive against organized crime.
On Saturday, federal police seized 2 tons of pseudoephedrine, a precursor chemical for the production of crystal methamphetamine, at Mexico City's international airport.
Pseudoephedrine is also used in the making of cold remedies. But legal importation of the chemical has been severely curtailed in recent years, as authorities try to hamper the production of methamphetamine.
Mexico is the biggest foreign supplier of methamphetamine to U.S. users, though American producers still hold the largest share of the market.
Police 14 months ago seized more than $205 million in cash from the Mexico City home of a Chinese businessman, Zhenli Ye Gon, who stands accused of illegally importing tons of pseudoephedrine into Mexico.
dudley.althaus@chron.com
But the government of Mexico is too cowardly and too corrupt to do anything of the sort.
My son went to Juarez two years ago on a church high school mission trip. I doubt we are going to go back for a while.
Well thank God we have a heavily patrolled, fenced border with Mexico. Next thing you know there will be economic refugees crossing the border by the millions. /sarcism off
(just killin Mexican police US tourists are too lazy to kill)
If we're really serious about the "War on (Some) Drugs," then we should put drug users in concentration camps, as we'd put anyone else aiding and abetting an enemy.
If we're not willing to do that, then the only answer is decriminalizing drugs, thereby taking the profit out of smuggling them.
I've never heard of anyone going broke, entering a life of crime, or prostituting themselves, over a 3-pack-a-day habit. When you know you can get your "fix" at reasonable price at a local dealer, the criminal element is undercut and smuggling ceases.
Mexico has a criminal culture, and it is the culture they export to here. A good scale for measuring the collapse of any culture is to look at the percentage of women in the population that have been raped. The rapists of Mexico have just about exhausted their supply of unraped women in Mexico, so they are coming here to ply their trade. The drugs, gangs and thieves are just complimentary gifts.
Saw what looked like a small drug deal go down while we were waiting for a light to change on Saturday. Wife called the police with the address and info. Billions of US dollars going to the Cartels. Follow the money.
I don’t agree. Hispanic culture has always supported corruption and the caudillo or strongman in both government and business. The magnitude of this problem stems from the fact that the drug cartels have realized that the government is so weak that it no longer has to be bought off.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Agreed! The US demand for drugs to an impoverished country is definitely a contributing factor. We should do our part to eliminate demand. Until the problems in Mexico and other countries south of the border are resolved they will continue to leave their homelands for ours! A friend this weekend was saying that the Mexican's are much more strict and harsh on those trying to come into their borders south of Mexico than we are are of them coming into our borders. Guatemalans apparently know better than to try to cross into Mexico and if caught they are apparently told to keep heading north to the US and to not stop in Mexico. Wow! Unbelievable ...
True!
Like your screen name! =)
If we were a decent country every drug buyer would be sentenced to immediate drafting by the army. Two years. They would peel potatoes, swamp floors, tote garbage etc for six months. If they worked hard and behaved themselves they could be promoted to warehouse work or even truck driving.
Desertion punishable by two extra years service for each offense. This would save us the money we are paying contractors for the military who are literally raping us for these services. It would kill the drug trade over night.
Well, at least none of this will come across the border to Phoenix. (snort)
But the government of Mexico is too cowardly and too corrupt to do anything of the sort.
&&&
Probably there are too many of them on the take from the drug gangs. I am guessing it’s the occasional honest cop or official who is getting mowed down.
I once had a Honduran tell me that the difficult part of the trek from his country to the US was crossing Mexico. The ordeal of crossing our border was relatively simple after having endured all the various forms of abuse dealt out by Mexicans along the way.
Legalize Drugs.
Crash their market. Then, all we have is an addiction problem. Of course, none of the beneficiaries on either side would go for that suggestion.
Amazing! They have the expectation of having secure borders amidst the chaos and inefficiency that is Mexico and yet the USA as a “Super Power” and “Promised Land” so concerned about national security is penetrable from every angle. Unacceptable!
here’s an article related to our discussion - it’s from February of this year but I had not seen it http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080203/OPINION/872804342
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